Who's a carpetbagger?

Outsider charges rear up again in 19th District race for Congressx

By Matthew Hamilton

Published
9:20 pm EDT, Monday, September 19, 2016

Albany

The carpetbagger label was applied swiftly.

As she floated her political ambitions, the candidate immediately ran into the sort of attacks facing any outsider — political or otherwise — in an area with fierce regional pride. One poll showed that voters were nearly split on whether they would be less likely to vote for a candidate from elsewhere. Another survey found that 61 percent believed lack of roots was a troubling factor in the race.

"I have never needed an exploratory team to find Albany or the Capital Region or to decide where I want to live," her opponent chided.

If that setup seemed designed for the 19th Congressional District race in 2016 — 16 years after Clinton defied the outsider claims to win election — that's because carpetbagger charges are back in the race to succeed Republican Rep. Chris Gibson.

Republican John Faso, a three-decade Kinderhook resident, rarely misses a chance to note that Democrat Zephyr Teachout has moved to Dutchess County from Brooklyn in March 2015).

While such digs are common in races at all levels, history suggests their effectiveness is moderate and often depends on the office one is seeking.

"It is an easy issue to highlight in an attack ad," Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said. " ... But I don't know that just because it's easy to understand, that it translates into being an effective issue."

Long before the carpetbagger claims dogged Clinton or Teachout, they were used against Robert F. Kennedyduring his 1964 run for U.S. Senate. Known for his upbringing in Massachusetts, Kennedy had moved to New York only months after the death of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, after serving as his attorney general.

But two high-profile 2014 congressional races lend credence to theory "carpetbagger" is a body blow that can help knock down an opponent. DemocratsSean Eldridge, who challenged a popular Gibson, and Aaron Woolf, a political neophyte seeking to fill an impending vacancy in the 21st district the covers the North Country, lost by overwhelming margins to candidates who relentlessly painted the men as wealthy New York City folk carpetbagging in the country.

Certainly, the upstate-downstate divide plays a role in state politics, though the Hudson Valley — loaded with retiree and other expats from the five boroughs — presents a more nuanced challenge.

"It's really the case that a lot of people have come from elsewhere," said Gerald Benjamin, who teaches political science at SUNY New Paltz. (He's a Faso supporter, and a friend of the candidate.) "... It's a consequence of ... population in-migration and change, (and) the population mix mitigates the power of the argument."

In the 19th District, Teachout's background as Gov. Andrew Cuomo 2014 Democratic primary opponent has helped define her among some voters, and has raised her profile.

Still, Faso continues to find a way in new releases, press conferences and conversation to slip in that Teachout doesn't have his kind of regional pedigree.

"If you want to represent people, you should be from them, you should know something about them," Faso said after a debate last Thursday. "And Ms. Teachout, she's a nice person, but she just dropped in here from Brooklyn and registered to vote in January. She's never even voted in a general election in this district. She has no connection to the people or the communities in this district; no civic or charitable or other business connection to this district. So how can she presume to represent us?"

Faso is not an upstate native: He grew up on Long Island, spent time in Washington, D.C., and moved to Columbia County in 1983, three years before running for Assembly. He said on Friday that as soon as he moved to the region, he got involved in the community before running for office, and "through happenstance" won a four-way primary)

Teachout is unfazed. She touts her rural roots growing up in Vermont dairy country as evidence of her understanding of a large district with rural farming economics, from Sullivan County to Rensselaer County.

"When I'm in Congress, I'm going to be representing the interests of this rural area that is really struggling economically for middle class jobs," she said after Thursday's debate.

So who will win the hearts — or at least the votes — of the region's electorate?